Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
She looks so sincerely troubled that I can’t help reaching over to cover her wrinkled hand with mine. “It’s okay. I believe you.”
Or at least I believe that’s what she believes.
The truth probably lies somewhere between her memory and mine, both influenced by our experiences before and after our lives crossed paths. But at the end of the day, none of that matters.
It doesn’t even matter if the curse is real or not.
Either way, it sounds like I’m safe to imagine a much longer future than I ever have before.
“The most important thing is that everything is going to be okay,” I say, hope blooming in my chest as I pull my hand from hers. “The curse ends with me, right?”
“It ends with you and the boy, when you heal the bad blood,” she says, a worried V forming between her eyes. “The boy must still be here.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. He said he and his wife were on a short trip while his mother watched their baby.”
“Oh, no.” Kaula’s face pales. “He has to be here.” She turns to Tammy. “What if I was wrong? What if I had another vision, something different, later, and I can’t remember?”
“You said that, about not remembering.” I figure it might give her some comfort, learning that she got that part right, too. “You said you might not know me when we met again.”
“Her mother had the same condition,” Tammy says. “The sight and the forgetfulness.” She puts an arm around Kaula’s shoulders. “They come together sometimes.”
“This is not…” Kaula shakes her head. “Not right.”
“But I can get in touch with Rafe again,” I assure her, though I still can’t imagine what my ex-boyfriend has to do with any of this. “I know where his mother lives now, and I’m sure my mother has her phone number. Actually, I think I have it in an old email, I can—”
“No, it happens in the woods,” Kaula maintains, her pitch rising. “Or near the woods…” She shakes her head. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s you and the boy, a reckoning, a transformation. And if it doesn’t happen…” She presses a fist to her forehead. “I can’t see it. I can’t see anymore. Why? I’m still looking in the same place!”
“Hush, love, it’s all right,” Tammy says, rubbing her back, but Kaula flinches away from her touch.
“I still know!” she shouts. “Don’t treat me like… I know… I still—” She breaks off with a low moan, and her hands claw into the hair on either side of her face. “I can make it come back. I can.”
“It’s time for you to go,” Manfri says, rising from the couch and motioning to the exit. “She needs to rest. Let Tammy calm her down.”
“Please,” I say, “just let me—”
“Go. Now.” Manfri points a stern finger at the tent flap. “You promised.”
Swallowing the protest rising in my throat, I glance back at Kaula, who is still rocking and moaning and clearly in no shape to explain anything to anyone, and sigh. “All right.” I rise and Jeffrey takes my hand, leading the way out of the wagon and into a much darker night.
It feels like we were only talking for a few minutes, but it must have been longer. But then, time has a way of warping when Kaula Young is around.
“I should have asked her about the time,” I say in a scratchy voice. “About why my sisters didn’t realize I was gone.”
“It’s okay,” Jeffrey whispers. “Maybe we can try again tomorrow.”
But I already know that’s not going to happen. I can see it in Manfri’s no-longer-friendly expression as he exits behind us and nods toward our tent. “I think you should go.”
“Please,” I beg. “Can we try one more time? Maybe, after she’s slept.”
“No,” Manfri says, shaking his head. “I’m sorry you’ve had trouble. And I’m sorry Mami’s message didn’t come through to you the way she intended, but it sounds like you’re good, and she can’t risk another stroke.”
“She’s had a stroke, too?” I instantly feel terrible. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. But she doesn’t, either. She was trying to do right by you. It’s not her fault that your people are raised to be afraid of us, to see us as monsters and thieves.”
“I wasn’t raised to—” I break off, realizing that I’m looking for an entry point in a fortress that’s been locked and barred against me.
And also, there might be a kernel of truth in what he’s saying. Half the folk tales I heard as a child involved wicked gypsies causing trouble for innocent villagers. Maybe that colored my reaction to Kaula more than I realized at the time.
I’d still like to think there was a better way to deliver her warning than kidnapping, but I could be wrong about that, too. The only thing that’s clear right now is that we’ve reached the end of the road with Manfri.